Karen Arnold, a Boston University researcher has conducted a 14 year longitudinal study of high school valedictorians, finding that they rarely achieve fame and fortune. To be sure, they usually finish college, many earn graduate degrees and about half rise to top tier positions.

“But how many of these number-one high-school performers go on to change the world, run the world, or impress the world?” Eric Barker is asking this question in his new book, “Barking Up the Wrong Tree.” He cites another study of 700 American millionaires, finding that their average high school GPA was 2.9. Of course, not all millionaires are game-changers.

Barker seems to believe that there is a disconnect between the kinds of students we reward and the kinds of graduates that a rapidly changing world needs. He suggests two reasons for this incongruity, both of which I touch on in “The Quiet Revolution.”

“Schools reward students who consistently do what they are told” – and life rewards people who shake things up. Arnold says that in high school, “we are rewarding conformity and the willingness to go along with the system.Speaking to a group at Business Insider’s New York office, Baker said, “In school, rules are very clear. In life, rules are not so clear. So a certain amount of not playing by the rules is advantageous once you get out of a closed system like education.”

“Schools Reward being a generalist” If you are passionate about political history, you have to restrain that passion for time to spend on your Math, Science, Health, and English homework. The real world rewards passion and expertise.

Surprisingly, Arnold’s study found that students “who genuinely enjoy learning tend to struggle in high school. They find the education system ‘stifling’ because it doesn’t allow them to pursue their passions deeply.”

Lebowitz, S. (2017, May 29). Why valedictorians rarely become rich and famous — and the average millionaire’s college GPA was 2.9. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/why-high-school-valedictorians-dont-become-really-successful-2017-5

Demographics, or demography, is the statistical study of populations. It encompasses the size, structure, and distribution of these populations. Demographics have long been used by decision makers in both government and commercial arenas.

Psychographics (a new word for me) is the study and classification of people according to their cognitive attitudes, aspirations, interests, opinions, beliefs and other psychological criteria.

Cambridge Analytica is a company that uses big data mining to accomplish, among other things, “psychographic profiling.” The company does this “..for political purposes, to identify “mean personality” and then segment personality types into yet more specific subgroups, using other variables, to create ever smaller groups susceptible to precisely targeted messages.” THEY DID THIS FOR THE DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.

Yesterday, ProPublica announced that they had successfully used Facebook, to direct mock articles directly to the newsfeeds of 2,300 people who’s psychographic profiles indicated interests in “Jew hater,” “How to burn jews,” or, “History of ‘why jews ruin the world’” – for $30. The anti-semitic categories were immediately removed. They had been created by computer algorithms, not by people. Facebook is exploring ways to fix the problem

For a long time I promoted and celebrated the people-power of social media, that it responds and behaves based on how we, people, use it. This characteristic is incredibly empowering and culture-enriching, and it can also be used to inflict great evil. For this reason, I also strongly urged educators and education leaders to refine their notions of what it is to be literate, that it is no long merely the ability to read and understand, but also the skills and habits of exposing what is true in the information that we encounter.

The fun part of writing my latest book has begun – the second draft. It’s a bit like sculpting, looking at each paragraph, knocking out words that distract and inserting ones that enlighten. What’s really exciting is reading something that I had expressed poorly, and suddenly being able to fix it because I finally comprehend the idea’s deeper core.

I am currently working on the pages that describe my first year of teaching (no computers yet), and I find that I ended that year with three convictions that kept me in the education profession and helped to carry me through the next 40 years.

Teaching is important. If I had understood this during my early days in the classroom, I would not have allowed myself to get tripped up so easily.

Teaching is a personal art. A classroom is not a laboratory and none of its subjects can be controlled. Even though there is much that is known about what works and what doesn’t, the most important tools for a successful teacher are imagination and inventiveness.

Teaching requires a passion for both what and why you teach. To be imaginative and inventive in your classroom, you must already know a lot about your subject, be in the habitual practice of learning and unlearning, and understand why your students should know it.

The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery.

My wife and I watched and enjoyed The Hundred-Foot Journey the other night. If you have not seen it, you should. If nothing else, Helen Mirren’s portrayal of a posh restaurant madam is an interesting contrast to that of a conscienceless hired killer in RED.

I posted a comment about the movie in Facebook, earning a healthy number of likes and an even more impressive number of comments. Many of the statements suggested that watching the film would be a good way to teach tolerance – and I agree.

But, as I’ve thought about this and the movie, I think that it’s not tolerance that is being illustrated by the characters, nearly as much as it is finding the human value of each other.

If we were in the habit of looking for the human value of each other, instead of taking offense to the perceived differences, then tolerance becomes passé.

It seems to me that teaching the value of people as the objective would be easier than teaching tolerance.

In 1993, while I was working at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and exploring the educational potentials of the, then emerging, Internet, I ran across an intriguing and inspiring summer project being conducted at Maricopa Community College in Phoenix, Arizona.

With the local school district, they invited a diverse group of students who would be entering fourth, fifth or sixth grades (all at-risk of failure) into a MUD or Multi-User Domain. Essentially, a MUD is a text-based virtual environment. Think SecondLife where the environment is read about, instead of seen graphically.

This particular MUD was empty, flat asphalt. These students, some of whom you couldn’t get to write their names in a classroom, were challenged to create a virtual city in the MUD, by learning a simple programming language and describing its buildings, parks and their own virtual homes, in all their richness, with words.

At the end of the project, I invited a number of the organizers and volunteers to a virtual office I was maintaining at MIT’s MediaMOO, where my avatar was known as Peiohpah. There I interviewed the team about their experience. I had acquired a virtual video camera, which recorded the exchanges.

Here is a portion of that interview played back on Pei’s TV.

[on Pei's TV] ***********************************
[on Pei's TV] ** C a m p M a r i M U S E **
[on Pei's TV] ** An Interview with the staff **
[on Pei's TV] ** of the first virtual **
[on Pei's TV] ** Computer Camp **
[on Pei's TV] ***********************************
[on Pei's TV]
[on Pei's TV] . . . the camera pans left to right over
Pei's Studio
[on Pei's TV] A cozy corner with two comfortable sofas
arranged for conversation in front of a large
picture of a schoolhouse. Curiously, the
walls of the schoolhouse appear to be
transparent. There is a copy of Tuesday's
*New York Times* on an end table.
[on Pei's TV] Lila smiles at the camera
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "I'm here with a few friends today
to talk about a project that they have been
involved in this summer, Camp MariMUSE. I
call them friends although I have never met
them face-to-face, and don't even know the
sounds of their voices. Yet I have
profoundly enjoyed their companionship by
interacting not only with their words, but
with their imaginations, and -- most
importantly to this interview -- with their
innovation."
[on Pei's TV] Pei turns to the rest of the group.
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "Hi, Pei"
[on Pei's TV] Avalon looks toward Pei, pleased to be
here.
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Why don't we start with my guests
introducing them selves."
[on Pei's TV] Woody waves to TV land
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K giggles
[on Pei's TV] Lila says, ""I am Lila on the MariMuse, a
volunteer for the project. I am a student
at Phoenix college, a returning student"
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "I am Billie Hughes aka Avalon
on MariMUSE. I worked with the team that
first brought Muse to Phoenix College."
[on Pei's TV] Pei senses that another member of the
MariMUSE team is looking for them and
disappears suddenly for parts unknown.
[on Pei's TV] Lila waits for Pei to return
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "I am Miss-K on the Muse, and
Susan Oram in RL (Real life) -- the school
librarian at Longview Elementary School. "
[on Pei's TV] Pei has arrived.
[on Pei's TV] Wlad materializes out of thin air.
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Hi Wlad!"
[on Pei's TV] Woody says, "I am Rod Brashear, Woody on
Marimuse. I am a student at Arizona State
Universtiy-West and also work for the
Arizona Department of Education. I
volunteered to be involved with the Longview
project."
[on Pei's TV] Lila waves to Wlad, and thinks she has seen
him before "
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "Hi, Wlad"
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Wlad, would you introduce
yourself?"
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "Hi, and I am Jim Walters. I
work at Pheonix College and am intensely
interested in this medium."
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Is that everyone?"
[on Pei's TV] Lila thinks that is all for the moment,
Platoon will join us later"
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "Thanks"
[on Pei's TV] Avalon turns toward Pei,anticipating a
question."
[on Pei's TV] Pei reads from his clipboard, then faces
Avalon.
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Avalon, would you begin by
explaining how Camp MariMUSE came to be?"
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "Wlad and I were in the library
one day when the Dean walked in. We were
excited about what Muse was doing for our
college students. She suggested we do a
summer camp for kids."
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "We jumped at the chance and
the rest is history."
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "Avalon had heard a rumor that
Joanne, the principal at Longview, might be
supportive of a technology linked proposal.
So we set out to meet with her."
[on Pei's TV] Woody says, "wlad and Av planted a seed and
didn't realize how big the tree would be.
[on Pei's TV] Lila says, "...and still growing!"
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "it's rather like falling into
the rabbit's hole with Alice."
[on Pei's TV] Pei grins with understanding
[on Pei's TV] Lila laughs at the rabbit hole analogy
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "So it began as an environment for
college student?"
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "We did try to start with the
basis that it could accommodate learners of
all ages."
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "But college students were the
group we began with because that was the
group we had access to."
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "We tried it first with our own
students, but always dreamed of a huge one
room school for learners of all ages."
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "The dream is starting to come
true, isn't it?"
[on Pei's TV] Lila nods agreement
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "We took some risks in bringing
in some of our own students, then to try to
offer a class entirely in this environment."
[on Pei's TV] Pei turns to Miss-K.
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Miss-K, Could you describe some
of the landmarks of MariMUSE that your
campers saw when they first entered the
MUSE?"
[on Pei's TV] Woody notices sweat on the brow of Miss-k.
[on Pei's TV] Lila hands Miss-K a tissue
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K smiles sickly!
[on Pei's TV] Pei reaches over and touches Miss-K's hand!
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "Well, we went to Lady
Starlight's castle first. "
[on Pei's TV] Pei's eyes widen with excitement.
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "We also visited some of the
places the first group of campers had
created. Also, Some of the campers spent
quite a lot of time in an amusement park."
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "A couple of the volunteers had
created a space station that was the initial
home of all the Longview campers."
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Tell me about the students who
participated in Camp MariMUSE?"
[on Pei's TV] Woody says, "Do you want a feel for what
they were like in RL, when they entered the
room?"
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, “Yes!"
[on Pei's TV] Avalon sits back listening to those who were
with the children the most to talk.
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "Well, it was quite a mixed
group of children. Our school is very
multi-ethnic and those groups were
represented at the camp."
[on Pei's TV] Avalon looks at Miss-K remembering just how
diverse the group really was.
[on Pei's TV] Lila remembers being surprised at the young
ages.
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "The kids were all going into
the fourth, fifth or sixth grade.”
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "The children who attended were
children who were definitely at-risk for
failure in school either because of their
back grounds or skills. They were chosen by
the teachers at Longview on the basis of who
we thought might benefit the most. "
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "The first day of camp was an
exciting day. Students had heard exciting
rumors and were very eager, with a bit of
confusion and trepidation, to come to a
college and work with the MUSE."
[on Pei's TV] Platoon materializes out of thin air.
[on Pei's TV] Platoon says, "HI Pei, sorry I interrupted"
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Platoon, my man! gime five!"
[on Pei's TV] Platoon ^5's Pei
[on Pei's TV] Platoon sits back and listens
[on Pei's TV] Woody says, "The first couple of days the
children were very quite and shy. After the
comfort level was attained the kids were
conversing in the muse and RL with real
excitement and interest"
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "They seemed very young, and shy
and seemed to be wondering why they were
here, but then they got started began having
fun."
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K nods.
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "How did the students first
approach the text-based virtual environment?
What was their early reaction?”
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "On the first day, I heard
whispers of, "This is dumb." By the end of
the first session, all the campers agreed it
was about the coolest thing they had ever
done.”
[on Pei's TV] Lila recalls the excitement of the children
when they left for the bus, how anxious they
were to come back the second day."
[on Pei's TV] Lila recalls how quickly the children became
conscious of correct spelling"
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "I had worried that the ones who
couldn't keyboard might become discouraged
and quit, but they just hung in and their
skills kept improving."
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "Even this morning some kids
were asking about getting back on the system
so they wouldn't lose their keyboarding
skills."
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Those of you who were volunteers,
how did you assist the campers and what sort
of impact did this experience have on you
personally?"
[on Pei's TV] Platoon says, "My best the very best
experience I had was when I started paging
some of the campers and ask them if they
need help...and they responded where are
you...and i said that I am kinda far away
from you...they couldn't imagine that "
[on Pei's TV] Lady Starlight materializes out of thin air.
[on Pei's TV] Platoon says, "I thought that was so cool to
have to convince them that I am about 20
miles away from them”
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "She was having difficulty with
him being in the same virtual room with
her."
[on Pei's TV] Lila says, "To build on Platoon's comments,
one child initially refused to believe a
volunteer was really in California."
[on Pei's TV] Pei smiles
[on Pei's TV] Lady Starlight says, "And another looked for
a volunteer in the disk drive."
[on Pei's TV] Wlad ecalls one student looking in the disk
drive slot trying to see Angus."
[on Pei's TV] Pei laughs and laughs and laughs
[on Pei's TV] Lila laughs at the remembrance
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "What, exactly,
did the MariMUSE campers do on a daily
basis?"
[on Pei's TV] Woody pulls out his muse curriculum daily
guide.
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "every day the students were
asked to complete a journal entry. They
also wrote at least one article per week for
the newsletter. They were also responsible
for doing some creating in the MUSE."
[on Pei's TV] Wlad recalls some of the homework and how
serious the students were about getting
together their descriptions and setting
their character names.
[on Pei's TV] Azure_Guest says, "What amazed me was that
they were so unwilling to leave for break."
[on Pei's TV] Woody adds that they felt three hours was
too short of a day on the muse.
[on Pei's TV] Lila says, "Do you remember how Ginji would
go home, make her sister help her research
so the cave could be exactly what she
wanted?
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "At the end of the first week,
the students were wanting to come in over
the weekend..”
[on Pei's TV] Lady Starlight says, "They were all very
proud of their work."
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "Ginji wears her Phoenix
College t-shirt often."
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "Above all, we learned that
this medium was exciting to students, it
captivated them despite its text-base. And,
they could handle the coding. They were
reading and writing for 3 hours a day,
thinking and problem solving, and loving
it."
[on Pei's TV] Woody says, "It taped the intrinsic
motivation of all the persons connected to
the program. Students Teachers, and
volunteers."
[on Pei's TV] Pei nods.
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Have the kids come back to school
yet? If so, what are they saying about the
MUSE now?"
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "Everyday I am asked, WHEN can
I come back on line?"
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "The children are eager to get
back on-line and are stating that they have
projects to work on, and they really want to
check their mail."
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "I called all the MUSE kids
into the library this morning and they were
all talking at once. They did not want to
leave to go back to class."
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "We believe we are just seeing
the tip of the iceberg. We believe we are
on the wave of the future. This medium is a
window to a new way of learning."
[on Pei's TV] Avalon looks at Miss-K remembering the child
who said, “You don't think I am stupid, do
you?”
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "The kids are so proud of the
NY Times article. They all want copies of
it."
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "How did the parents react to Camp
MariMUSE?"
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "We had an enormous turn out on
the parent day. We were amazed. The
parents are especially proud of their
children. I think it raises their self-
esteem too."
[on Pei's TV] Lila says, "Many parents had to take off
work, with no pay, to attend any function to
which they were invited. Such as
graduation"
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "Some even rode over on the
school bus to be here."
[on Pei's TV] Woody says, "When the parents first met with
us, PC volunteers and Wlad, There was a very
small turn out. After the camp was over
there was almost 100 percent parent
participation."
[on Pei's TV] Lila says, "Running Wind's parents went to
great lengths to attend graduation, they
VERY proud of him and his accomplishments."
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "And parents who had never heard
their children talk about what they were
doing at school were getting rave reviews
and daily updates on the camp activities."
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "We invited the superintendent
who was amazed at the children's creativity
and the amount of writing they did. We also
invited state representatives who felt the
excitement. And we had parents who knew
their kids were really excited about and
successful with learning."
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "On graduation day, it really
felt like one big family celebration."
[on Pei's TV] Wlad laughs remembering how he helped
Running wind entertain two of his
younger relatives.
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "Remember, this was only a 3
week camp. All of this happened in 3 short
weeks."
[on Pei's TV] Lila shakes her head, and says, "Hard to
believe we did all that in 3 weeks."
[on Pei's TV] Pei 's heart is full!
[on Pei's TV] Woody throws time out the door.
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Were there any real surprises?"
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "It seemed like a magical
time."
[on Pei's TV] Lady Starlight nods.
[on Pei's TV] Lila says, "I was very impressed with the
increase in global awareness."
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "I was blown away by the
research that the students initiated!"
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "One of the other teachers
committed this week about how important it
was for these kids to see the volunteers
from the college working at their jobs,
volunteering, and going to class. It
helped them see they could go to college
too."
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "It was a time of being
completely accepted."
[on Pei's TV] Avalon grins at Miss-K.
[on Pei's TV] Platoon says, "it was a time of beeing
equal"
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K says, "Actually, I still get misty
eyed about it. "
[on Pei's TV] Avalon hands an embroidered hankie to Miss-K.
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K giggles
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "What plans do you have for the
future of MariMUSE?”
[on Pei's TV] Avalon has been assigned to work on grant
writing and assessment so we can continue
and can learn as we proceed into the future.
This is a major commitment from the college
to a very important project.
[on Pei's TV] Woody boogies about the future.
[on Pei's TV] Wlad says, "By the 15th of September, we
should have 12 terminals installed at
Longview for the students to use. There
will be a 9600 baud modem line to the
college. We know that the equipment will
work with that speed. We want something
that will work right away, so that we can
get the kids back on-line."
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K squeals in delight
[on Pei's TV] Pei applauds
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K will never get anything done once
those terminals are in!
[on Pei's TV] Pei rolls in the floor laughing
[on Pei's TV] Avalon grins and grins and grins with
excitement about the future.
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K wrings her hands thinking of so much
to do and so little time.
[on Pei's TV] Avalon says, "We have very strong support
from the Longview, Phoenix College and the
district offices to continue and build on
this."
[on Pei's TV] Pei looks at his watch and turns back to the
camera.
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Viewers...I am speechless!"
[on Pei's TV] Miss-K smiles
[on Pei's TV] Pei says, "Except to say that I am deeply
moved by these people and what they have
accomplished this summer. It is impossible
to know all the consequences of how they and
the experiences they have provided have
touched the lives of a handful of children
this summer. Or how the technologies and
techniques they are pioneering will effect
lives in the future. But my bet is that it’s
enormous.”
[on Pei's TV] From MediaMOO, this is Peiohpah saying "good
night!"

In re-reading this interview I was struck by four ideas.

The campers were engage in self-directed learning, because they were doing something with what they were learning.

Their enthusiasm had nothing to do with slick graphics and booming sound effects. It was text.

The campers were working hard, though they might not have called it work. Students who are engaged in this type of learning experience often call it, “Hard play.”

There seems to be a direct relationship between learner-engagement and parent-engagement.

One of the nice things about writing again, is that it doesn’t require a huge monitor. Therefore, I am not chained to my upstairs office. I can do it virtually anywhere. :-)

In our 35 years of marriage, there have been only a few instances when my wife realized what a cleaver fellow I am – maybe three. I think one occurred yesterday.

As you may be aware, I am winding down my career as an educator. My wife, concerned about identity security, has spent parts of the last couple of days looking for my social security number included in two large file cabinets of documents from 19 years of clients and jobs. She commented, as we were walking up to North Hills yesterday, that I had accomplished a lot in my years as an independent and been part of some pretty exciting developments in education and technology.

Then she said, “You should write a book about all of this.”

My reply was simple, the same that I’ve said to colleagues who have recently asked, “So now that you’re not traveling so much, are you going to write a new book?”

“No!”

“I’m through! I’m tired! ..and writing is really hard work for me…”

Yet, this morning, as I woke and lay in bed, my mind was going like it hasn’t in many months, seeming to have realized that in some deep and evil corner of my brain, the decision has been made. I had an outline written out by 8:30 this morning – for a new book about the history of educational technology.

Two 2×4 Lego bricks, of the same color, can be put together in 24 different ways. Three can be connected 1,060 different ways. Six can be combined in 915,103,765 different ways. ..and, of course, children (and adults) have enthusiastically assembled them in nearly as many. It’s when useful and reliable resources can be used in so many ways that creativity is invited.1

The best use of Legos, in my humble opinion, never involved lessons or even instructions. You do not sit down and teach children how to creatively make stuff by clicking Lego bricks together. You simply given them the bricks and let them play.

Might we achieve more inventive-minded students, if we could redesign curriculum to simply give our children the prescribed resources of mind, and then encourage and free them to play, construct and learn. One example occurs to me, something that I witnessed in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada many years ago.

In early 2007, I participated in a provincial conference there and in addition had an opportunity to visit some of the area schools with my friend and NB educator, Jeff Whipple. At the time, the entire province was engaged in some pretty innovative initiatives. I wrote about that visit here and here.

I was overwhelmingly impressed with everything that I saw in the schools around Fredericton, but the visit that came to mind as I started thinking about Legos was Chad Ball’s civics class. He had decided to approach it in an entirely different way that year, based on a summer morning brainstorm. Rather than present the content to his students in teacher mode, he simply made it available to them, the vocabulary and concepts of Canadian government, mostly through a wiki.

Students were then assigned to work in groups, to create a new political party. They were to develop a platform, write speeches and even establish a mascot and logo – and required to appropriately and effectively utilize every vocabulary word and every concept of Canadian government in the process. Chad taught in consultant mode, though he reported that he api;d often refer students to classmates who seemed to have a handle on the concept or practice.

On the day of our visit, Mr. Ball had asked, on the class wiki, if there might be ways to extend the project. Even though the posting initially evoked complaints from some of the students, within a half hour there were 102 comments on his posting, mostly suggesting ways that they might take their political parties to the next level.2

This style of teaching and learning is about empowerment, not compliance,

I’ve been worrying over what’s to become of my 2¢ worth as I come to pay less attention to the education debate and less effort on promoting my own value to that conversation, which is at least a small part of what my pennies’ worth has been. Do I continue to have my children publish their video and infographic contributions, or drop the blog all together.

What continues to play at the edges of this conundrum is what was perhaps the most resounding nail I’ve hammered on during the final years and months of my professional career – that there is a distinct and crucial difference between learning and being taught. I suspect that there has been no time in human history where the ability to skillfully, resourcefully and continuously learn has been such an essential life long working (and playing) skill — lifestyle.

It’s a profound notion that begs the question, do we need an education system to teaches children how to be taught, or that helps them to learn to teach themselves? And if this is a question worth asking, then what does its answer mean to the pedagogies of our classrooms, libraries, school schedules…

As I have turned my attention away from writing about education and preparing for three keynote addresses a week (mostly not an exaggeration), I will must insist to you that I have not stopped learning. To treat my wife, I’ve taken on more of the cooking — applicable learning. I've started practicing the martial art of Aikido — reflective learning. Digital photography and the art and technique of post-production — information-rich learning.

I wonder if it might be useful to write about these learning experiences, removed from formal education. Though I've done a lot of thinking about my martial arts learning, the injured my coccyx (tail bone) from a bicycle accident, has prevented me from visiting the Raleigh Aikikai Dojo lately. I’m not yet mended enough to go and repeatedly fall down again. So let's look think about my photography learning.

Before

After

I bought a descent DSLR camera several years ago, as an incentive strategy for getting me out of the hotel rooms of the interesting and sometimes exotic places my work was taking me. The scheme worked, and I now have a wealth of snapshots going back close to twenty years. It’s afforded me a richer memory of my global wanderings, but also given me a virtual warehouse of digital images with which to learn and play.

I am mostly using three software tools: Photomatix Pro, to enrich photos by blending different exposures together; Photoshop, to shove pixels around with; and Lightroom for the finishing touches. They are all three, rich and powerful tools for working in a field about which I have no formal training. I simply look at the work of better photographers, watch videos and read blog articles about how they accomplished their masterpieces, pick out a particular technique of interest or need, and teach myself to do it.

And I play.

To the right are before and after images from the train station in Basel, Switzerland, where my wife and I changed trains travel from Frankfort to Milan. The before image is a fine snapshot. It’s clear and crisp. However, there is little sense of the station itself. So a produced a copy of the photo with the exposure cranked up, revealing the high rounded roof and ribbed structure. Blending these two files, with a third lower exposure copy, not only revealed the vast size of the station, but with some play, gave the photo an antique and artistically rendered effect. Near the far end of the building, there was a hint of some open windows with morning sunlight shining through. To excentuate this, I used some techniques that I'd learned the day before to enhance the beams of light add added some extra open windows, giving the photo not only a sense of place, but also of moment.

My point is that

I learn by playing and working and then play and work with what a learn —

..and there is no clear point where one ends and the other begins.

Might classrooms be a little more like this, where students learn by playing and working (accomplishing something of value) and then play and work with what they've learned?

I know that I’ve not been blogging a lot lately, because the first thing I had to do this morning was update MarsEdit, my blog-writing software.

Yesterday, watching the tweets and status updates being posted by educators packing their bags, arriving at airports and train stations, bound for Atlanta and ISTE 2014 — well it got me to thinking. I’ve been an educator for almost 40 years and that many years in such a dynamic field makes you opinionated. ..and I suppose it’s part of the character of old folks (60+) to express their opinions.

That’s why I tweeted out yesterday…

At #iste14#iste2014, ignore those who want to save education. Instead, join the ones who’re saving the next generation.

There were retweets, agreeing replies, and some push-back — reminding me that this old dog will never learn to fit his thinking into a 140 character message. So here’s what I meant to say.

You will speak to vendors and listen to speakers in Atlanta who claim to know how to fix education, how this practice or product will improve resource efficiency, teacher effectiveness and student performance. Don’t ignore them, but ask yourself, “Are they answering the right question?”

I would suggest that rather than asking, “How do we improve education?” we should be asking ourselves, “What does it mean to be educated?”

Years ago, when my Great Uncle Jim, the last of my family to live in the old Warlick home, passed away, and the house was sold, we were given permission to visit and take any furniture or other items, for which we had a use. My prize was an old quilt that had obviously been stitched together during a quilting party, dated in the late 1800s.

Both Uncle Jim and my Grandfather grew up in this house, and they both went to college, Jim to NCSU (engineering) and my Grandfather to UNC (classics). But when they graduated, they returned to rural Lincoln County, without daily newspapers, monthly journals or a convenient library. They returned to an astonishingly information scarce world.

Being educated then was indicated by what you knew, the knowledge that you’d memorized, knowledge and skills that would serve you for most of the remaining decades of your life.

Today, we are swimming in information and struggling with a rapidly changing world, and the very best that any “education” can do, is provide for us is what we need to know or know how to do for the next couple of years.

Being education is no long indicated by what you’ve been successfully taught.

Being educated today is your ability to resourcefully learn new knowledge and skills and responsibly use them to answer new questions, solve emerging problems and accomplish meaningful goals.

Being educated today is no longer measured by the number of questions we can correctly answer.

It’s measured by how well we you can discover or invent new answers, effectively defend those answers, and then we them to make our lives, communities and world better.

If they’re trying to sell you something at ISTE, ask them, “How will this help my learners to become better educated?”

I just woke with a start. Did I just miss the ISTE14 ADE (Apple Distinguished Educators) photowalk yesterday? A quick Googling from my office (next to my bedroom) and I see that the event isn’t until next Saturday. Most years I’ve been blogging by now with recommendations for ISTE novices, about what gear to take and how to behave. But not this year. I’ll be mostly taking it easy at home, taking pictures, taking walks, riding my bike, playing with the dog (my daughter’s studying in Europe and we’ve got the dog) and working on a slew of personal projects.

Talking with Carlos Austin, a local iPad photographer.

Will I miss ISTE14? Well, I’ll certainly miss the photowalk. Last year’s walk around San Antonio was phenomenal, especially because of the talented and ingenious photographers I followed around — both the gear geeks and the artists.

I’ll also deeply miss EduBloggerCon, now called something else (HackEd), where educators go to learn from each other. I’d planned, for a while, to attend only the photowalk and HackEd, but figuring the cost and how much I’m enjoying becoming a homebody, I finally decided to forego Atlanta this year. I can’t accurately say how many NECC/ISTEs I’ve not missed, but it’s more than 20.

I’d like to say one thing here, about why I’ll be at home on ISTE week – and I’ve written about this before I submitted two presentation proposals.

One was a standup and teach presentation about games and pedagogy. It was accepted.

The other was a very strange interactive performance (see NCTIES), designed to provoke the audience to self-examine their personal ideas about information and communication technologies and education. It was rejected.

Look! The best learning that I have done, was not taught to me. The best learning came from a challenge, or curiosity, or an intriguingly inventive plot – and it involved a conscious and resourceful re-examining of my own knowledge and ideas.